The Lovie Awards are overseen by the same organisation that runs the Webby Awards (the leading awards for our industry) and they’ve been set up specifically to recognise European excellence. This is their inaugural year.

Our award was in the Best Practices category which recognises websites that:

“serve as an industry benchmark for the most current, innovative, and advanced practices in web development. Sites demonstrating unparalleled excellence across The Academy’s six criteria: content, structure & navigation, visual design, interactivity, functionality, and overall experience.”

A couple of other things are especially pleasing about this win:

• The strength of the competition is impressive, featuring work by top ranked agencies and global brands. The other brands in our category were UEFA, the BBC, Philips, Skype and Vanity Fair.
• We get a statuette

We have to give a big thank you to everyone at Glyndebourne for letting us do some of our best work for them. Of course, on top of this win, the same website is still in the running for a BIMA Award.

I’m aware this website is increasingly looking like a jobs board. Still, we’re looking for a…

Front End Designer
12 Month Contract. Maternity Cover.

We’re delighted that one of our team will soon be hearing the patter of tiny feet. However, it also means that we’re looking for a Front End Designer to step in and fill her creative boots.

We’re offering the opportunity for a creative web designer to come on board and work for big name clients, designing websites that demonstrate an understanding of brand awareness and user experience with creative flair and technical implementation.

Pixel pushing and vector tweaking are a given but animation and motion skills would be highly valued too. A working knowledge of current web production technologies:

• CSS 3
• HTML5
• JavaScript

…will put a smile on our faces.

Salary: based on candidates relevance, experience and ability to convince.

To apply:
You should send us a link to your online portfolio or examples of your work. Shortlisted candidates will be asked in for an interview. Please send a CV and online portfolio to work@mademedia.co.uk.

Okay, we’re recruiting once more. We’re looking to expand our teams in Birmingham and in London.

Senior Web Developer (Birmingham)
We’re looking for another credible developer to join our team. Made is a LAMP based operation, so we’re looking for someone with OOP PHP5 skills, preferably experience with a framework like Zend, Symfony or Sapphire. You’ll be interested in standards and HTML5 of course, but we’re looking for an architect, not a WordPress hacker (some incidental WordPress hacking is fine). We want someone who is able to talk credibly about their craft, so as well as being a good developer, you’ll be able to talk convincingly about cloud-hosting, scalability, accessibility, penetration testing, compliance and data protection. All areas you’ll get plenty of experience with at Made.

We’ll consider candidates with two years plus experience. Good computer science degree preferred. Competitive salary and benefits based upon experience level. Opportunity to work on high-profile projects, where your work will be used by millions not thousands. Good team spirit. Excellent coffee. Monthly massage. Beer.

Senior Digital Designer (London)
We’re looking for a senior digital designer to work from our London office (Angel, Islington). A grid-orientated typographer, yes, but we’re looking for more than that: Someone with strong conceptual and visualisation skills, someone comfortable in pitch scenarios. Someone who can hack out a design in Photoshop from nowhere, fast. Also desirable:

Ability to talk about ‘engagement’ and ‘social influence’ with enthusiasm whilst maintaining a straight face

At least two year’s work experience in an agency required. We’ll supply a steady stream of interesting clients and briefs. We’re working out the coffee. No massage in London, sorry.

To Apply…
Both roles competitive with experience and location. Email a CV and URLs to work@mademedia.co.uk. Developers should consider sending code samples, Designers a PDF portfolio or similar. Sorry, no agencies. Really.

We’re in the Arts & Culture category for the website we built for Glyndebourne, which is very gratifying indeed – we’ve built up a lot of expertise in performing arts websites and this was a project that really allowed us to flex our muscles. See our previous post on was involved.

So thanks to the judges and, most importantly, thanks very much to our client. Our fingers are crossed for the awards in November.